Moving and staying: wartime escapes in three connected colonies in South China, 1937–1945

This article analyses wartime escapes involving three ‘neutral’ colonial territories in South China during the Second World War in East Asia (1937–1945). The British colony of Hong Kong, the French leased territory of Guangzhouwan, and Portuguese-ruled Macau were territories of strategic importance during China’s war with Japan, avoiding formal occupation by Japanese forces until the early 1940s (Hong Kong), the last year of the conflict (Guangzhouwan) or the end of the war (Macau). This article argues that their nominal neutrality and different jurisdictions turned these territories into key stopovers and temporary destinations for a wide range of displaced persons fleeing occupied areas in China. Drawing on multilingual sources, this paper proposes a framework of different types of wartime escapes, illustrating these with case studies of women on the move. It also delves into the unexplored importance of specific urban spaces where a diverse range of people came to interact during their wartime stays in these territories, namely hotels.